Zeitgeist Zephyr

Spirit of the Westward Wind

Moon Lost?

August 14th, 2009 by Sir Knightly in Lunar Exploration, Space Update | No Comments →

For those who say President Obama isn’t cutting back on spending, initial indications from the Augustine Committee effectively deciding on NASA’s course is that the current plan is too ambitious, and that the Moon might even be the wrong target.  For NASA and the United States, this will mean some changes in the near future.  We will need to accept the fact that the Chinese and Russians will beat us back to the Moon and that if the Augustine Committee has its way, that won’t be until near 2030, if no major budgetary increases are made.

Where’s the positive news?  It seems NASA is taking a bigger interest in private spaceflight.  There are numerous companies with the drive and financial backing to do what NASA can’t do right now, and that seems to be the wave of the future, an unfortunate thing when it comes to the ambitious missions the public has come to anticipate from NASA.  The results aren’t final, but the news isn’t looking good.  Stay tuned…

Sarah Palin, Please Shut Up

August 13th, 2009 by Sir Knightly in Healthcare | No Comments →

Seriously, please be quiet and slide into the oblivion of ex-politicians.  Thanks to you, there is no longer a portion of the health-care plan that would allow for money to be distributed to the elderly or dying to seek counseling in matters regarding living wills.  Living wills are fundamental rights, and they’ve been around for a longer time then this current health-care debate has been going on. 

Wouldn’t you like a little leverage if you were put on the machine and the decision had to be made whether or not to “pull the plug?”  How about this, since you’re so adamant about this view, let’s just let someone live their life (la-de-da-de-da) and then when they are suddenly put on the machine, let’s allow their family members and friends make the heart wrenching decsion to end their lives or let them potentially suffer through the rest of it.  Oh, wait, but that would be like a DEATH PANEL!!

I’ll just throw this out there, and this got me more praise on a discussion-board on the matter than I’ve ever gotten, but there has been so much spin put on this whole health-care debate that I can’t really even call it a debate so much as an exchange between liberals and conservatives of conspiracy theories that tap into their fears of life, death, and taxes.  Since no one really knows if what they are saying is the truth or some “false truth” or out and out lie, it makes all of us look like fools, and Sarah Palin’s spinning on this is no exception.

Breaking it down, her Facebook statement saying there are “death panels” in the bill takes advantage of the most vulnerable people, even in our present system, and those are the people who are dying or at least staring it in the face.  Politics has no limit and no sense of morality, but what Sarah Palin and other vocal conservatives (Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, etc.) are painting as “death panels” takes the debate to a sickening and perverted level.

I close with my initial plea: Sarah Palin, please shut up. 

Where Are The So-called “Christians”

August 13th, 2009 by Sir Knightly in Healthcare | No Comments →

I’ve kept it out of my blog for the most part but this is a fundamental part of the continuing health-care debate that baffles me: where are the so-called “Christians” in this debate?  One of the reasons I’ve tried to distance myself from the religious (and maybe a bit self-righteous) right in this country is that they consistently remain silent on certain lessons and bits of wisdom Jesus Christ imparted upon us while being vocal to the point of near belligerence on other issues.  (For instance ever notice how homosexuals, abortionists, and other “godless” heathen’s get so much attention?)

While there are too many practical reasons why I support health-care to list in this post, the moral reason I support health-care is precisely becauseI’m a Christian.  When Jesus walked the earth, he fed the hungry, clothed the poor, and healed the sick.  While I think Christian’s rank right up there in the top in providing these services in a charitable fashion, why so silent on a government option that would provide critical health services to those who need it most and are overlooked and sometimes taken advantage of by the insurance companies?  Honestly, it’s an outrage and I commend President Obama in advance for taking time out of his schedule next week to talk to key Christian leaders next Wednesday, although for the sake of his health-care bill it might be too late (more that in my next post.)

While I try to avoid backing up my opinions with those of the talk show big wigs, even those from my “beloved” MSNBC, Ed Shultz put it best today on his show which was almost entirely devoted to the subject.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

You’ll note that Bishop Harry Jackson doesn’t agree with Obama’s plan, but he does agree that something needs to be done.  The Christians of this country have the opportunity to affect this debate in a positive manner, they just need to take the stance that Jesus would, and in my opinion it would be to provide health services to those who need it but can’t afford it.  (Jesus would give those services for free, but let’s face it, when is free health-care ever going to happen?)

I’ll finish this post off with a Bible passage out of Matthew, a parable told by Jesus, that supports my opinion as to why we need to pursue a federal health-care option.

 31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.  34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

 37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

 40“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

 41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

 44“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

 45“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

 46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Wake Up Call: NASA

August 10th, 2009 by Sir Knightly in Space Update | No Comments →

Knock, knock!  Anyone home there at NASA?  Well here’s a little note I’ll leave on your door.

NASA has been awarded $50 million in stimulus money to award to a company (or companies) that present a proposal for a commercial spacecraft capable of ferrying humans and cargo.  Fantastic news for the SpaceX Dragon and Orbital Sciences Cygnus spacecraft.  Both are capable of carrying humans and since they have already been under development for quite some time, would be flight ready before Orion.  They could also be operated for a far cheaper price than NASA can offer.

On top of this, and NASA REALLY needs to listen to this, Arianespace is offering use of their human-rated Ariane 5 rocket for NASA’s use.  The rocket was originally designed for the European Space Agency’s attempts at a human spaceflight program in the 1990’s.  The rocket can send humans and large cargo into Earth and Lunar orbits and towards Mars.  It’s been flying since 2003 and has made 31 successful launches in that time.  The number of successful launches for the Ares V to date?  0.  Oh, wait.  It’s still being developed and billions of dollars more will be spent to reinvent the wheel our European counterparts are offering us.

If NASA were to devote it’s resources into the Ariane 5 and a commercial contractor for it’s human spaceflights, the shuttle could fly a minimum schedule until the new vehicles are ready and I would suspect that not only could a 2015 or earlier deadline be met for the flight of Dragon (top) or Cygnus versus Orion, but that with the use of the Ariane 5 rocket (bottom) and freed up resources to build a really good Altair lunar lander, NASA could be on the Moon by their optimistic deadline of 2018.

Dragon         Ariane 5

The point to all of this?  It’s a global economy.  NASA is still one of the only space agency’s in the world that relies solely on home built spacecraft and rockets for its big ticket missions.  The European Space Agency and Roskosmos (Russia) have been utilizing each other’s rockets for years and the ESA just finished a launch pad at it’s French Guiana spaceport so they can launch Russian Soyuz rockets.  The Chinese manned spaceflight program?  Only possible because of Russia sharing their Soyuz designs with the Chinese.  There is even word on the street now the Russians are helping the Japanese develop their manned spaceflight program.

NASA is behind the times, and it’s no wonder that at this point in time, even being an aerospace engineering student, that I’m afraid to work for them.  It comes from a fear of stagnation and that NASA is at the point where it can rocket to it’s former glory, only with a different strategy that relies on the private sector and free market global economy, versus falling off the cliff into oblivion as it struggles to find funding for 2 new rockets and a manned vehicle that must be ready in 5-6 years time during an already rough economy.  The time for NASA to change its game plan is now, and I hope that Obama’s space commission and NASA’s new administrator will take heed in the weeks ahead.

Where I Stand

August 8th, 2009 by Sir Knightly in Liberal Politics | No Comments →

I took the political spectrum quiz on www.gotoquiz.com and got the results posted below.  They’re mostly accurate, but probably more authoritarian than I actually am.  The placement left is consistent with other quizes I’ve taken and I ride the line on Libertarian and Authoritarian.  I encourage you to take it yourself, it doesn’t take long and you can compare your results with demographic averages.  I’m not able to post them but the overall average is about 1 square left and 2 squares down towards Libertarian to give you an idea, and it’s been taken by over a hundred thousand individuals.

My Political Views
I am a left moderate social authoritarian
Left: 4.65, Authoritarian: 1.12

Political Spectrum Quiz

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